China Earthquake: LIVE UPDATES

A rescuer helps a local resident remove debris from his house in a village in Qionglai township, after a shallow earthquake at magnitude 7.0 hit the city of Ya'an, in southwest China's Sichuan province on April 20, 2013 (AFP Photo) / AFP

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake has hit south-western China, killing at least 192 people and injuring thousands.

The Chinese seismological bureau initially measured the quake at
magnitude 7. Strong jolts toppled buildings at 8am local time,
sending people into the streets in their underwear and wrapped in
blankets.

Lushan, where the quake struck, is home to 1.5 million people.
Known for its mountains, the area is near a well-known preserve for
pandas.

The quake struck near the area where another devastating
earthquake left 90,000 dead or missing and presumed dead in
2008.

17:22 GMT: Power supply has been partly restored in
Chinese counties isolated by the earthquake, Xinhua reported. The
counties where electricity has returned include Lushan, with
emergency teams also starting to put the power network back in use
in Baoxing and Tianquan, CCTVNews said. In those parts of China,
particularly in remote mountainous areas, people spent at least 33
hours in isolation after the quake left them without food, water or
shelter.

13:11 GMT: A Russian rescue team is preparing to fly to
China to take part in the search and rescue operation and assist
with the recovery efforts, the Siberian regional center of Russia’s
Emergencies Ministry spokesman told Interfax. Seventy-one Siberian
rescuers are to fly on board of Il-76, which is expected to depart
within hours.

Earlier the Chinese Foreign Ministry thanked foreign governments
for offers of help, but said the country was able to cope with the
situation on its own.

“Taking into account the road situation and the [disruption
of] telecommunications in the area affected by the earthquake,
foreign rescue and medical teams, as well as humanitarian help, are
not needed at the moment,” a spokesman said.

"The Lushan county centre is getting back to normal, but the
need is still considerable in terms of shelter and materials,"
Kevin Xia of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies said.

"Supplies have had difficulty getting into the region because
of the traffic jams. Most of our supplies are still on the
way," Xia said.

4:56 GMT: The quake death toll climbs to 192 dead. 23
others are missing. The number of injured stands at some 11,500
people, 960 of them in serious condition.

4:43 GMT: More than 1.5 million people have reportedly
been affected by Saturday's strong earthquake, Ministry of Civil
Affairs said. The quake has affected 69 counties in the province.
"A large number of buildings collapsed and were damaged in the
quake-hit area. The authorities are still checking the details
since the communication and transport are not fully available,"
the statement from the ministry said.

03:00 GMT: The death toll now stands at 180 with 11,227
injured, Xinhua reports citing the provincial emergency response
command center on Sunday.

2:16 GMT: The death toll from the Sichuan earthquake
rises to 179, Xinhua news agency reports, citing the China
Earthquake Administration. Most of the deaths occurred in the city
of Ya’an, where 164 people were killed. Almost 7,000 people have
been injured.

April 21

18:17 GMT:

After the earthquake 846 aftershocks have been recorded,
including 57 above 3.0 magnitude and two between 5.0-5.9 magnitude,
China Daily reports.

17:55 GMT:

#China: update
on 7.0 magnitude earthquake. Nearly 50% of houses in the old town
of the Lushan County have collapsed buzz.mw/-pcP_y

14:32 GMT: More than 360 Taiwan's tourists were in the
province when the earthquake hit, said Ma Shaw-chang, spokesman of
Taiwan-based Straits Exchange Foundation, adding that they are all
safe.

14:29 GMT: Medical and rescue teams are on stand-by in
Taiwan to assist the mainland's efforts, said Taiwan's Red Cross
Society. Two rescue teams in Taipei and Kaohsiung will be
dispatched if requested by the mainland, said the society’s
official Spencer Chen, according to Xinhua. Blankets, tents and
sleeping bags have been packed for delivery, life detectors and
excavating equipment will be included if necessary.

14:07 GMT:France is ready to help the Chinese government
to provide any assistance it may need, said the French Foreign
Ministry.

"It is with deep emotion that we learned a new earthquake ...
had hit Sichuan province," the ministry said in a statement as
cited by Xinhua news agency. "France shares the grief of the
Chinese people, already deeply wounded by the disaster in May 2008
in Sichuan Province."

10:53 GMT: A total of 3,870 armed police are in Lushan
county assisting with rescue efforts. Nearly 200 technicians have
been dispatched to disaster-hit areas to repair the
telecommunications network. Infrastructure remains intact in
Sichuan, but is badly damaged and broken in the epicenter and
nearby. Two hundred and seventy-nine telecommunication base
stations have collapsed after the quake.

10:46 GMT: China has dispatched drones to capture images
of quake-hit areas, according to the National Administration of
Surveying, Mapping and Geoinformation. The drone images will cover
the hardest-hit Baoxing, Taiping and Longmen townships.

10:28 GMT: Nearly all of the structures in Longmen
village reported collapsed and nearly 10,000 houses damaged
throughout the earthquake-hit county. Hard-hit parts of the region
remain unreachable by road, with several highways cut off.
According to authorities, the power grid has been disrupted and
phone services are only partially available.

9:33 GMT: It is estimated that 90% of all houses in Ya’an
area collapsed due to the earthquake.

9:13 GMT: One of the injured soldiers from the bus that
fell into the river, died in hospital. New reports suggest, more
than 3,000 people were injured by the quake. The death toll
currently stands at 102.

8:35 GMT: Vladimir Putin sent his condolences to the
Chinese leader and offered help in assisting with the aftermath of
the earthquake.

8:31 GMT: About 80,000 prisoners have been evacuated from
prisons in Sichuan. Among them, more than 2,000 were evacuated from
a prison in Ya’an county. No deaths were reported among the
prisoners, but one person was injured in the leg.

8:20 GMT: The Ya'an quake has resulted in serious
casualties and economic losses, but it is not expected to be as
disastrous as the 8.0-magnitude Wenchuan quake that left nearly
90,000 dead or missing in May 2008, China Earthquake Networks
Center spokesman said.

8:17 GMT: A total of 264 aftershocks had been monitored
so far, two of which were above 5.0-magnitude, according to the
China Earthquake Administration. Possibilities of aftershocks
stronger than 7.0-magnitude are small, they say.

8:01 GMT: Chinese authorities warn of possible
aftershocks and secondary disasters, including landslides, mud-rock
flows, and the collapse of caves and riverbanks.

7:15 GMT: The fire corps of Sichuan Province has sent a
reinforcement team of 615 firefighters with 110 fire-fighting
vehicles and six sniffer dogs, as well as one medical team to the
quake-hit region.

6:37 GMT: Hard-hit parts of the county remained
unreachable by road, with phone services cut off, but some text and
Internet services continuing, state media report.

5:42 GMT: "I was putting my make up on in the
bathroom, I suddenly saw the mirror moving. I felt it could be a
quake, so I just ran out of the building," a resident of
Meishan, south of the provincial capital Chengdu, told AP.

5:27 GMT: Xinhua news agency reports serious collapses of
homes, with many old houses in Lushan destroyed. Many people are
reported trapped in the collapsed buildings.

5:15 GMT: China's premier Li Keqiang is on his way to the
earthquake zone in the province of Sichuan.

5:12 GMT: Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li
Keqiang ordered all possible measures to be taken to rescue victims
and minimize deaths and injuries.

4:52 GMT: Most of the deaths were concentrated in Lushan,
where water and electricity were cut off. Pictures on Chinese news
sites showed collapsed buildings and people in bloodied bandages
being treated in hospital.

The earthquake occurred at 8.02 a.m. (00:02 GMT) in
Lushan county near Ya'an city and the epicenter had a depth of 12
km (7.5 miles), the US Geological Survey said.